WEBVTT

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Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Liz Wade
and I'm Mike Propter. Spotlight uses a

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special English method of broadcasting. It
is easier for people to understand no matter

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where in the world they live.
Ruby still sleeps in the basket. She

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sleeps with her soft plaything. She
likes to have both hands and feet holding

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something when she is lifted. Do
you want to hold her? Deirdre Devilliers

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is talking about a baby, but
Ruby is not a human baby. She

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is a small furry animal, a
koala. Davilliers is a koala researcher.

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She is caring for Ruby. Davilliers
rescued Ruby from the mouth of a dog,

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and Ruby is sick. Davilliers will
care for her until she is healthy.

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Then Ruby will be able to live
in the trees with other wild koalas.

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Today's spotlight is on these koalas.
People often called koalas koala bears.

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A koala does look like a small
sized bear, like a bear. It

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is covered with gray hair or fur. It has large ears, wide eyes,

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and a long black nose. A
koala has a round, furry body

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like a bear. But a koala
is not a bear. It is a

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marsupial. Marsupials are animals that have
a special way to carry their newborn babies.

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They have a pouch. The fur
on their stomach can open to hold

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something a bit like a bag.
The koala mother carries her new baby in

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this pouch. This makes it easier
for her to climb trees. Koalas spend

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most of their lives up in a
tree. They eat tree leaves. Koalas

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particularly like the shiny, dark leaves
of the eucalyptus tree. Eucalyptus trees grow

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in eastern Australia. This is the
home of the koalas too. Around the

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year eighteen hundred, Europeans settled in
Australia. At this time there were probably

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millions of koalas in eastern Australia.
The number is much smaller now. The

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Australian Koala Foundation says there are only
about forty to eighty thousand koala's left.

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This sounds like a big number.
However, Koalas are in serious danger.

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The human population of Australia is growing. As people build more roads and houses,

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they cut down eucalyptus trees, but
the koalas need these trees to survive.

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Trees provide shelter, food, and
safety for the koalas. Humans also

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build fences, drive vehicles, and
own dogs. These things can all be

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dangerous to a koala. Dear Dredvilliers
Tell's National Geographic Koalas are getting caught in

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fences and dying. They are killed
by dogs and hit by vehicles. They

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are even dying from simple things,
like a person who cuts down several eucalyptus

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trees around his house. People also
bring something else that harms koala's disease.

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Koalas can die from human disease.
It causes another problem too. Disease can

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change their behavior. It can make
koalas fight each other. Diseases can also

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make koalas unable to produce babies.
This is a big problem because the number

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of koalas is shrinking. Many people
are worried that soon there may be no

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koalas at all. Joel Sartori is
a photographer for National Geographic magazine. He

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is very famous for his pictures of
rare or endangered animals. He visited eastern

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Australia to take pictures of koalas.
Sartori took one particularly difficult picture. It

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was a picture of all the koalas
that had died in one area during one

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week. The picture shows the bodies
of thirteen koalas. Satori tells National Geographic

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about it. I knew I had
to get a picture of dead koalas for

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this story, but I kept having
trouble. People at the animal clinic I

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was working with said it would look
bad. The Australian government does not even

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like to say that these koalas are
endangered, but the workers at one place

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I visited thought this was an important
picture to make. They told me that

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in this area these animals will be
completely gone in three to five years.

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They want the world to know that
the koala has many enemies, such as

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disease, dogs and people cutting down
trees, but koalas have many friends too.

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Many people are working to protect the
koalas from danger. People like Deirdre

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de Villiers take care of hurt koalas. Some people even work with koalas in

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their own houses. Samantha Longman is
one of these people. She takes care

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of koala babies. She is like
their mother. The baby koalas climb on

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her, they depend on her.
She tells National Geographic about this work It

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does not leave me much time for
anything else, but the little creatures are

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part of our family. What we
are doing is important. Some people work

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with the government to protect land and
trees. The Australian Koala Foundation or AKF,

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is asking the government to use more
land as natural park areas. These

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parks would be a good place for
koalas to live. The AKF would also

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like the government to create laws to
protect koalas. They want to stop people

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from cutting down eucalyptus trees. Without
eucalyptus trees, the koalas cannot survive.

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The AKF website explains eighty percent of
the land that koalas live on is privately

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owned. It is often farmland,
not in national parks. This is why

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the ak F wants a law that
will prevent people from cutting down trees on

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their land. We want a law
to encourage people to protect and manage the

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land where koalas live. There is
another way Davillias works to protect koalas.

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She watches wild koalas. This way
she can learn how the koalas are doing.

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She studies their health, and she
studies the population growth of koalas in

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the area. Humans have caused many
problems for koalas in Australia, but Davilliers

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says that people and koalas can live
together. People can make some changes that

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would help the koalas. They can
drive more slowly. They can make shore

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that there are enough eucalyptus trees for
the koalas to live in and eat.

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On one trip, Davillias studied TV
a koala she had watched for over a

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year. To her surprise, Davilias
discovered TV had a young baby in her

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pouch. Davilliers shared her excited reaction
with National Geographic. While there are still

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healthy babies, there is still hope. The rider and producer of this program

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was Na Damn. The voices you
heard we're from the United States and the

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United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted
for this program and voiced by Spotlight.

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You can listen to this program again
and read it on the internet at www

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dot Radio English dot net. This
program is called Koala's in Danger. You

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can also leave your comments on our
website or you can email us at radio

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at Radio English dot net. You
can also find us on Facebook. Just

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search for Spotlight Radio. We hope
you can join us again for the next

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Spotlight program. Goodbye,